پنجابی مُسَّلماں | |
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Regions with significant populations | |
Pakistan | 111,303,000 ( | )
India | 535,489 [1] |
United Kingdom | 500,000 [2] |
United States | 263,699 [3] |
Languages | |
Standard Punjabi (Shahmukhi script), Western Punjabi and its dialects, Urdu | |
Religion | |
Islam (Sunni majority, Shia & Ahmadiyya minority) | |
Related ethnic groups | |
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Punjabi Muslims are Punjabis who are adherents of Islam. [4] [5] With a population of more than 112 million, they are the third-largest predominantly Islam-adhering Muslim ethnicity in the world, [6] after Arabs [7] and Bengalis. [8]
The majority of Punjabi Muslims are adherents of Sunni Islam, while a minority adhere to Shia Islam. Most of them are primarily geographically native to the Pakistani province of Punjab, but a large group of them have ancestry across the Punjab region as a whole. [4] Punjabi Muslims speak or identify with the Punjabi language (under a Perso-Arabic script known as Shahmukhi) as their mother tongue.
The coalescence of the various tribes, castes and the inhabitants of the Punjab region into a broader common "Punjabi" identity initiated from the onset of the 16th century CE. [9] [10] [11] [12] However, Punjab as a linguistic, geographical and cultural entity had existed for centuries prior. [13] Integration and assimilation are important parts of Punjabi culture, since Punjabi identity is not based solely on tribal connections. [14] Islam spread in the region via missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of the Punjab region thereby becoming the faith of many by the 16th century. This contributed to the formation of a Punjabi Muslim identity. [15] [9] [16] [17]
At the advent of Islam in the seventh century, Punjab was part of Takka kingdom. By then, Buddhism had declined in Punjab after the fall of the Kushans, and had largely disappeared by the turn of the 10th century. [18] Several scholars have identified Takka kingdom with the kingdom of al-Usaifan, whose king is reported by al-Biladhuri to have converted to Islam during the reign of Caliph al-Mu'tasim (r. 833–842). [19] However, Islam as a political power got introduced via southern Punjab only after the 8th century Umayyad conquest of Sindh. The first Muslim state in Punjab was the Emirate of Multan, established in 855 after the disintegration of the Abbasid Caliphate. In the 11th century, Muslim conquered northern Punjab after the defeat of the native Hindu Shahis by the Ghaznavids. The city of Lahore emerged as a thriving city, rivalling Ghazni and effectively acted as a second capital of the empire. [20] [21]
In Punjab, conversion to Islam occurred mostly amongst pastoralist or agricultural groups that were not integrated into the Hindu Varna social class hierarchy, [15] such as Jats, who were known to Muslims as Zutt. [22] The tribes of the Bar region would be contacted by Sufi mystics like Fariduddin Ganjshakar over the centuries and converted to Islam, albeit a syncretic form. Gakhars of the Pothohar plateau were noted for their martial capabilities and gradually converted to Islam. [15]
In 1161, the Ghurids conquered the city of Ghazni, forcing the Ghaznavids to shift their capital to Lahore. Soon, however, Muhammad Ghori invaded Punjab as well, and conquered Lahore and Multan in 1186, marking end of the Ghaznavids. In 1206, he was assassinated at Damiak by Isma'ilis or Punjabi Khokhars. [23] One of his Mamluk slaves, Qutb ud-Din Aibak, established the Delhi Sultanate, with Lahore being the first capital of the sultanate. The early period of the Delhi Sultanate saw several Mongol invasions of Punjab. Ultimately, Mongols were defeated during the rule of the Khalji dynasty. [24]
Islam became firmly established in Punjab during the era of Delhi Sultanate, and tribes like Khokhars played an important role in the inter-dynastic struggle. In 1320, Ghazi Malik, the former governor of Multan, rebelled against the Khalji rule. With the support of various factions including Khokhars, he established the Tughlaq dynasty. [25] [26] Some of the earliest mentions of Punjabi language date to this period. [27]
By the late 14th century, the Tughlaq dynasty had declined, and the sultanate was divided among various warlords. The city of Lahore was intermittently captured by Khokhars. Taking advantage of the prevailing anarchy, Timur led a brutal invasion of Delhi sultanate in 1398. Lahore had been under control of Shaikha Khokhar since 1394, who resisted Timur but was defeated and killed. Afterwards, Timur plundered Delhi and massacred its inhabitants. [29] Tughlaq power crumbled and resulted in nobles asserting formal independence. In 1414 the Tughlaq dynasty was itself replaced by Sayyid dynasty of Khizr Khan, a Punjabi chieftain. [30] Much of the time of Sayyid Sultans was spent in fighting against Jasrat, who was the most formidable opponent of Delhi sultans in Punjab. South Punjab became independent from Delhi when Langah Sultanate broke away in 1445. [31] The rulers of medieval Gujarat Sultanate in western India are also described as having Punjabi Khatri origins. [32]
By the early 16th century, the Lodi dynasty which succeeded Sayyids had control over little more than the region around Lahore in Punjab. In 1525, the Mughal emperor Babur invaded Delhi Sultanate and conquered it by defeating Ibrahim Lodi in the first battle of Panipat. The Gakhars of Potohar remained loyal to the house of Babur after Sher Shah Suri overthrew the Mughals under Humayun. This caused Sher Shah Suri to invade Pothohar and the local chief Sarang Khan died fighting against him. [33] However, Gakhars continued their resistance, even after Sher Shah Suri's minister Todar Mal constructed the Rohtas fort in the region. [34] Gakhar chiefs such as Kamal Khan were part of Mughal nobility when Humayun regained Delhi after defeating Sur dynasty in the Second Battle of Panipat. [35]
According to the Ain-i-Akbari written during the reign of Akbar, Punjab region was divided into Lahore and Multan provinces. [36] Muslims had majority in southern Punjab by the 16th century, [9] and a definitive Punjabi identity had formed as the inhabitants of Punjab started to be addressed as Punjabis by the outsiders during 17th century. [37] Several Punjabi Muslims rose to high ranks during Mughal period, such as Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) Saadullah Khan (1645–1656). He belonged to the Thaheem clan of Chiniot. [38] Saadullah Khan oversaw construction of several Mughal monuments including Taj Mahal under the supervision of architect Ustad Ahmad Lahori, who was also from Punjab, and led the Mughal army to Balkh in 1646 during Shah Jahan's war against the Safavids in the region. [39] Wazir Khan of Chiniot was also a grand vizier in the early Shah Jahani era. [40]
The death of Aurangzeb in 1707, began the decline of Mughal power in the 18th century. Between 1712 and 1719, Barhas, a dynasty of kingmakers of peasant origins from Punjab, exercised de facto control over the Mughal Empire. [41] Mughal authority in Punjab remained in the hands of Nawabs who gave nominal allegiance to the Mughal emperor in Delhi; however it collapsed in Punjab after Mir Mannu died in 1753. Last Nawab of Punjab, Adina Beg was a Punjabi Arain who attempted to make Punjab independent. After his untimely death in 1758, Ahmad Shah Durrani directly annexed the region. Punjab suffered from the eight invasions of the Durrani Afghans between 1748 and 1767, which ravaged the region. [42]
During these centuries of Mughal rule, Punjabi Muslims established great institutions of Islamic civilization in cities and towns such as Lahore and Sialkot. Punjabi Muslim scholars were "in high demand", teaching the Islamic sciences as far as Central Asia, in cities such as Bukhara, even being considered there as Awliya' within their lifetimes. [43] The Kamboh clan of Lahore also produced many notable scholars and administrators. Other influential Muslim scholars born in Punjab during Mughal era include Abdul Hakim Sialkoti and Ahmad Sirhindi. [44] Between 1761 and 1799, the south Indian kingdom of Mysore was ruled by Hyder Ali, stated to be a Punjabi adventurer in the army of Mysore, and his son Tipu Sultan. [45] [46] Tipu Sultan, who is widely hailed as a freedom fighter in South Asia, led Mysore during Anglo-Mysore Wars and also pioneered modern rocketry. [47]
Ahmad Shah Durrani and his successors failed to maintain control of Punjab except in Attock, Kasur and Multan where large Afghan colonies were based. Punjab was divided into petty Muslim and Sikh chieftancies. The situation remained as such till Ranjit Singh took Lahore in 1799. [48]
The two important Punjabi Muslim states that existed in 18th century Punjab were those of the Sials and the Gakhars. Gakhars under Sultan Muqarrab Khan (r.1738–1769) established rule over Potohar and the Chaj Doab whilst the Sials with their capital at Jhang conquered the Lower Rachna and Sindh Sagar Doabs under their chief Inayatullah Khan (r.1747–1787). [49] However, Sikhs, who originated in central Punjab, gradually expanded westwards. Owing to their superior European-style military training and discipline, the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh not only gained control of most of Punjab but also conquered Kashmir (1818), Multan (1818) and Peshawar (1833) from Durrani Afghans. Only the Bahawalpur state, then under Daudpotra Nawabs, remained independent from Sikh regime. With Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, Sikh power declined. After suffering defeat in the Anglo-Sikh wars, their territory was annexed in 1849 by the British East India Company. [50] [ page needed ]
Views of the Sikh Empire rule, are mixed amongst different Punjabi Muslim groups. Ranjit Singh is seen favourably by a section of Punjabi activists in Pakistan but remains overall largely negative. [51] The mid 19th-century Punjabi Muslim historians, such as Shahamat Ali who experienced the Sikh Empire first hand, presented a different view on Ranjit Singh's empire and governance. [52] [53] According to Ali, Ranjit Singh's government was despotic, and he was a mean monarch in contrast to the Mughals. [52] His account portrays Ranjit Singh as leading his Khalsa army's "insatiable appetite for plunder", their desire for "fresh cities to pillage", and eliminating the Mughal era "revenue intercepting intermediaries between the peasant-cultivator and the treasury". [54] As a symbolic assertion of power, the Sikhs regularly desecrated Muslim places of worship, including closing of the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar and the conversion of the Bad shahi Mosque in Lahore to an ammunition store and horse stable, but the empire still maintained Persian administrative institutions and court etiquette; the Sikh silver rupees were minted on the Mughal standard with Persian legends. [55] [56]
Historian Robina Yasmin, on the other hand, argues against the stereotypical narratives of claimed anti-Muslim oppression by the Sikh Empire. [57] After researching contemporary sources held in the Fakir Khana archives in Pakistan and England, she concluded that the Sikh rulers were secular and allowed their Muslim subjects to freely practice their religion. [57] She also points out the fact that during the reign of the Sikh Empire in Punjab, there was never a single case of rebellion against the Sikh authorities by Muslims. [57] She further claims any beliefs of maltreatment of Muslims is based upon misunderstandings of the condition of the Muslim community during the Sikh Empire. [57]
Before British annexation of Punjab, the consciousness of a Punjabi identity was at its zenith. [37] Writing in 1840s, the Punjabi Muslim poet Shah Mohammad viewed Anglo-Sikh wars as war between the Punjab and Hind (India). [37] During colonial period, communal identity superseded regional one, and Punjabi Muslims increasingly disowned Punjabi language in the favour of Urdu in Persian script. [37]
During the colonial era, the practice of religious syncretism among Punjabi Muslims and Punjabi Hindus was noted and documented by officials in census reports:
"In other parts of the Province, too, traces of Hindu festivals are noticeable among the Muhammadans. In the western Punjab, Baisakhi, the new year's day of the Hindus, is celebrated as an agricultural festival, by all Muhammadans, by racing bullocks yoked to the well gear, with the beat of tom-toms, and large crowds gather to witness the show, The race is called Baisakhi and is a favourite pastime in the well-irrigated tracts. Then the processions of Tazias, in Muharram, with the accompaniment of tom-toms, fencing parties and bands playing on flutes and other musical instruments (which is disapproved by the orthodox Muhammadans) and the establishment of Sabils (shelters where water and sharbat are served out) are clearly influenced by similar practices at Hindu festivals, while the illuminations on occasions like the Chiraghan fair of Shalamar (Lahore) are no doubt practices answering to the holiday-making instinct of the converted Hindus." [58] : 174
The news of the Rebellion of 1857 reached Punjab quite late. Jhelum in Punjab saw a rebellion in which 35 British soldiers were killed on 7 July 1857. Among the dead was Captain Francis Spring, the eldest son of Colonel William Spring. [59] On 9 July, most of the brigade of sepoys at Sialkot rebelled and began to move to Delhi. [60] They were intercepted by John Nicholson with an equal British force as they tried to cross the Ravi River. After fighting steadily but unsuccessfully for several hours, the sepoys tried to fall back across the river but became trapped on an island, they were defeated by Nicholson in the Battle of Trimmu Ghat. [50] : 290–293 However, the main opponent of British rule in Punjab was Rai Ahmad Khan from Kharral clan who waged war against it for three months in central Punjab. He was killed on 21 September 1857 in a skirmish with British colonial forces while inflicting heavy losses to the British. [61]
Punjabi Muslims, classified as a "martial race" by the British colonialists, [62] made a substantial part of the British Indian Army. [63] British academic David Omissi calling them the single largest group in both World Wars, [64] at the eve of World War II accounting for around 29% of its total numbers. [65] Due to these reasons, another British academic, Kate Imy, writes that "Punjabi Muslims were the true backbone of the Indian Army." [66]
However, there was also a history of popular resistance from Punjabi Muslims against British colonialism, including during the 1857 Indian Rebellion with the likes of Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal, facts which historian Turab-ul-Hassan Sargana says have been undermined because the elites of Punjab who collaborated with the British are those who still rule Pakistan today. [67]
The Government of India Act 1935 introduced provincial autonomy to Punjab replacing the system of dyarchy. It provided for the constitution of Punjab Legislative Assembly of 175 members presided by a Speaker and an executive government responsible to the Assembly. The Unionist Party under a Punjabi Muslim, Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan formed the government in 1937. Sir Sikandar was succeeded by Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana in 1942 who remained the Premier till partition in 1947. Although the term of the Assembly was five years, the Assembly continued for about eight years and its last sitting was held on 19 March 1945. [68]
During the 1930s and the 1940s, the Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam, an anti-colonial Islamist political party founded in 1929 as an offshoot of the Khilafat Movement and a close collaborator of the Indian National Congress, became the dominant political force among Punjabi Muslims, especially among the lower middle echelons and the artisan classes, the Ahrar's having a diversity of Islamic schools but generally subscribed to a Deobandi interpretation with an Islamic socialist approach as well. [69]
During the Partition of 1947, millions also migrated from East Punjab to West Punjab to escape violence from Hindu and Sikh militias. [70] After independence, Bengalis formed the majority ethnicity of Pakistan, followed by Punjabis. After 1971, Punjabis became the majority ethnicity.
Sufism has also played a major role in the history of Punjab. [71] Many prominent Sufi saints were born in Punjab, including Fariduddin Ganjshakar, Waris Shah and Bulleh Shah. [72] [73]
Punjabi Muslims had a major contribution in the development of Punjabi language. Fariduddin Ganjshakar (1179–1266) is recognised as the first major poet of the Punjabi language. [74] Roughly from the 12th century to the 19th century, many great Sufi saints and poets preached in the Punjabi language, the most prominent being Bulleh Shah. Punjabi Sufi poetry also developed under Shah Hussain (1538–1599), Sultan Bahu (1630–1691), Shah Sharaf (1640–1724), Ali Haider (1690–1785), Waris Shah (1722–1798), Saleh Muhammad Safoori (1747–1826), Mian Muhammad Baksh (1830–1907) and Khwaja Ghulam Farid (1845–1901).
The Punjabi language is famous for its rich literature of qisse, most of which are about love, passion, betrayal, sacrifice, social values and a common man's revolt against a larger system. The qissa of Heer Ranjha by Waris Shah (1706–1798) is among the most popular of Punjabi qissas. Other popular stories include Sohni Mahiwal by Fazal Shah, Mirza Sahiban by Hafiz Barkhudar (1658–1707), Sassui Punnhun by Hashim Shah (c. 1735–c. 1843), and Qissa Puran Bhagat by Qadaryar (1802–1892). In contrast to Persian poets, who had preferred the ghazal for poetic expression, Punjabi Sufi poets tended to compose in the Kafi . [75]
Punjabi music is used by western musicians in many ways, such as mixing with other compositions. Sufi music and Qawali, commonly practiced in Punjab, Pakistan; are other important genres in the Punjab region. [76] [77]
Folk music of Punjab is the traditional music of Punjab produced using traditional musical instruments like Tumba, Algoza, Dhadd, Sarangi, Chimta and more. There is a wide range of folk songs for every occasion from birth to death including marriage, festivals, fairs and religious ceremonies.
Punjabi Muslims are found almost exclusively in Pakistan with 98% of Punjabis who live in Pakistan following Islam, in contrast to Punjabi Sikhs and Punjabi Hindus who predominantly live in India. [78] Thus religious homogeneity remains elusive as a predominant Sunni population with Shia, Ahmadiyya and Christian minorities. [79]
While the total population of Punjab is 127 million as noted in the 2023 Pakistan census, [80] [81] ethnic Punjabis comprise approximately 44.7% of the national population. [82] [83] Ethnic Punjabis, that is, discounting the local Kashmiris, Pashtuns and Baloch residents, thus number approximately 111,303,000 million in Pakistan; this makes Punjabis the largest ethnic group in Pakistan by population. [82] [83]
Punjabi Muslim society is centered around the concept of biraderi (برادری), social brotherhood within the tribe and clan.
The major tribes and clans among Punjabi Muslims are the Jats, Rajputs, Arains, Ansari, Sheikh, Gujjars and Awans. [84]
In his 1911-book The Armies of India, British major Sir George Fletcher MacMunn would write that Muslims of Punjab "are of many mixed races, but who largely consist of Rajput tribes converted to Islam at various times in the past." [85]
Punjab, also known as the Land of the Five Rivers, is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern-Pakistan and northwestern-India. Punjab's major cities are Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Sialkot, Chandigarh, Shimla, Jalandhar, Patiala, Gurugram, and Bahawalpur.
Punjab is a province of Pakistan. With a population of over 127 million, it is the most populous province in Pakistan and second most populous subnational polity in the world. Located in the central-eastern region of the country, it has the largest economy, contributing the most to national GDP, in Pakistan. Lahore is the capital and largest city. Other major cities include Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Multan.
Lahore is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Punjab. It is the second largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and 26th largest in the world, with a population of over 13 million. Located in central-eastern Punjab, along the River Ravi, it is the largest Punjabi-speaking city in the world. Lahore is one of Pakistan's major industrial, educational and economic hubs. It has been the historic capital and cultural centre of the wider Punjab region, and is one of Pakistan's most socially liberal, progressive, and cosmopolitan cities.
Multan is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, located on the bank of river Chenab. It is one of the five largest urban centres of Pakistan in 2024 and is the administrative centre of Multan Division. It is a major cultural, religious and economic centre of Punjab region, Multan is one of the oldest cities of Asia with a history stretching deep into antiquity.
Ranjit Singh was the founder and first maharaja of the Sikh Empire, serving on the throne of Punjab from 1801; of Jammu from 1808; and of Kashmir from 1819, until his death in 1839. He ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He survived smallpox in infancy but lost sight in his left eye. He fought his first battle alongside his father at age 10.
The History of Punjab refers to the past history of Punjab region which is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in the northwest of South Asia, comprising eastern Punjab province in Pakistan and western Punjab state in India. It is believed that the earliest evidence of human habitation in Punjab traces to the Soan valley of the Pothohar, between the Indus and the Jhelum rivers, where Soanian culture developed between 774,000 BC and 11,700 BC. This period goes back to the first interglacial period in the second Ice Age, from which remnants of stone and flint tools have been found.
The Lahore Fort is a citadel in the city of Lahore in Punjab, Pakistan. The fortress is located at the northern end of the Walled City of Lahore and spreads over an area greater than 20 hectares. It contains 21 notable monuments, some of which date to the era of Emperor Akbar. The Lahore Fort is notable for having been almost entirely rebuilt in the 17th century, when the Mughal Empire was at the height of its splendor and opulence.
The Walled City of Lahore, also known as the Old City, forms the historic core of the city of Lahore in Punjab, Pakistan. The city was established around 1000 CE in the western half of the Walled City, which was fortified by a mud wall during the medieval era. It is the cultural centre of the Punjab region.
Kasur is a city to the south of Lahore, in the Pakistani province of Punjab. The city serves as the headquarters of Kasur District. Kasur is the 16th largest city in Punjab and 24th largest in Pakistan, by population. It is also known for being the burial place of the 17th-century Sufi-poet Bulleh Shah. It is farther west of the border with neighboring India, and bordered to Lahore, Sheikhupura and Okara Districts of Punjab. The city is an aggregation of 26 fortified hamlets overlooking the alluvial valleys of the Beas and Sutlej rivers.
Uch, frequently referred to as Uch Sharīf, is a historic city in the Pakistan's Punjab province. Uch may have been founded as Alexandria on the Indus, a town founded by Alexander the Great during his invasion of the Indus Valley. Uch was an early stronghold of the Delhi Sultanate during the Muslim conquest of the subcontinent. It is also known as the home for the Naqvi/Bukhari's after the migration from Bukhara. Uch was a regional metropolitan centre between the 12th and 17th centuries, and became refuge for Muslim religious scholars fleeing persecution from other lands. Though Uch is now a relatively small city, it is renowned for its intact historic urban fabric, and for its collection of shrines dedicated to Muslim mystics (Sufis) from 12th to 15th centuries that are embellished with extensive tile work, and were built in the distinct architectural style of southern Punjab.
The Sikh Empire, officially known as Sarkār-i-Khālsa and Khālasa Rāj, was a regional power based in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the British East India Company in the Second Anglo-Sikh War. It was forged on the foundations of the Khalsa from a collection of autonomous misls. At its peak in the 19th century, the empire extended from Gilgit and Tibet in the north to the deserts of Sindh in the south and from the Khyber Pass in the west to the Sutlej in the east as far as Oudh; holding the thrones of Punjab, Kashmir, and Jammu in personal union. It was divided into four provinces: Lahore, which became the capital; Multan; Peshawar; and Kashmir. Ethnically and religiously diverse, with an estimated population of 4.5 million in 1831, it was the last major region of the Indian subcontinent to be annexed by the British Empire.
The Gakhar is a historical Punjabi Muslim tribe with origins in the northern Punjab, Pakistan. The Gakhars now predominantly follow Islam after conversion from Zoroastrianism during the Islamic rule in Punjab.
Khokhar is a historical Punjabi tribe primarily native to the Pothohar Plateau of Pakistani Punjab. Khokhars are also found in the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana. Khokhars predominantly follow Islam, having converted to Islam from Hinduism after coming under the influence of Baba Farid.
The recorded history of Lahore refers to the past history of the city of Lahore, the post-medieval cultural and political hub of the Punjab region. Today, the city is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and is primarily inhabited by the native ethnic Punjabis. Throughout its recorded history, it has changed hands from many foreign to native states and empires such as the Indo-Greeks, Kushans, Guptas, Alchon Huns, Takkas, Hindu Shahis, Ghaznavids, Delhi Sultanate, Surs, Mughals, Durranis, Misls, Sikh Empire and the British, thereby becoming the cultural capital and the heart of modern-day Pakistan.
Majha is a region located in the central parts of the historical Punjab region, currently split between the republics of Pakistan and India. It extends north from the right banks of the river Beas, and reaches as far north as the river Jhelum. People of the Majha region are given the demonym "Majhail". Most inhabitants of the region speak the Majhi dialect, which is the basis of the standard register of the Punjabi language. The most populous city in the area is Lahore on the Pakistani side, and Amritsar on the Indian side of the border.
Pakpattan, often referred to as Pākpattan Sharīf, is an ancient, historic city in the Pakistani province of Punjab, serving as the headquarters of the eponymous Pakpattan district. It is among the oldest cities in Asia and ranks as the 48th largest city in Pakistan by population, according to the 2017 census. Pakpattan is the seat of the Sufi Chisti order in Pakistan, and a major pilgrimage destination on account of the Shrine of Baba Farid, a renowned Punjabi poet and Sufi saint. The annual urs fair in his honour draws an estimated 2 million visitors to the town.
Multan in Punjab province of Pakistan is one of the oldest cities of South Asia, though its exact age has yet to be determined. Multan is known for its rich ancient heritage and historic landmarks. Multan was the capital and largest city of Punjab region mostly in late ancient and the medieval era. Multan region was centre of many civilizations in its 5 millenia old history, and witnessed warfare across millennia because of its location on a major invasion route between South and Central Asia.
History of Sialkot, the capital of Sialkot District, is a city situated in the north-east of the Punjab province in Pakistan at the feet of the snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river. The city is about 125 km (78 mi) north-west of Lahore and only a few kilometres from Jammu in India.
The Sikh Rule in Lahore initiated from the conquest and rule of the Sikh Misls and extended till the Sikh Empire of Ranjit Singh which ended in 1849. The Sikhs began gaining power following the decline of the Mughal Empire in Punjab and consisted of a collection of autonomous Punjabi Misls, which were governed by Misldars, mainly in the Punjab region.
Punjabi nationalism is an ideology which emphasizes that the Punjabis are one nation and promotes the cultural unity of Punjabis around the world. The demands of the Punjabi nationalist movement are linguistic, cultural, economic and political rights.
First, Islam was introduced into the southern Punjab in the opening decades of the eighth century. By the sixteenth century, Muslims were the majority in the region and an elaborate network of mosques and mausoleums marked the landscape. Local converts constituted the majority of this Muslim community, and as far for the mechanisms of conversion, the sources of the period emphasize the recitation of the Islamic confession of faith (shahada), the performance of the circumsicion (indri vaddani), and the ingestion of cow-meat (bhas khana).
With the Muslim conquest of Punjab there was a flow of Sufis and other preachers who came to spread Islam. Much of the advance of Islam was due to these preachers.
While Punjabi Hindu society was relatively well established, there was also a small but vibrant Jain community in the Punjab. Buddhist communities, however, had largely disappeared by the turn of the tenth century.
'Amir Khusro ba Zuban-e-Punjabi ba ibarat-e-marghub muqaddama jang ghazi ul mulk Tughlaq Shah o Nasir uddin Khusro Khan gufta ke aan ra ba Zuban-e-Hind var guvaend' (Amir Khusro in the language of the Punjab wrote an introduction of the battle between Tughlaq [1324-1320] and Khusro which in the language of India is called a var)
The career of Khizr Khan, a Punjabi chieftain belonging to the Khokar clan, illustrates the transition to an increasingly polycentric north India.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The latter sultanate was founded by a former Tughluq governor, perhaps from a family of Punjabi Khatri converts, who took the title Muzaffar Shah in the early fifteenth century but reigned for only a short time.
As another example of such soldiers of marginal peasant origin, the Barha Sayyids, a celebrated troop of soldiers under the Mughals deserve attention. They were said to be the descendants of the families who had, at an uncertain date, moved from their homes in Panjab to a sandy and infertile tract of what is now the eastern part of the Muzaffarnagar district
A shared Persian language, and its corresponding religio-cultural modalities and symbols, ensured that the credentials of deputies from Hindustan and Khurasan would be recognized across Transoxiana. Fazl Ahmad appointed several Punjabi and Peshawari deputies at Balkh, Samarkand, Bukhara, Aqcha, Khiva, and Khoqand. Some of the Punjabi migrants were even acknowledged as native saints of Transoxiana within their lifetimes.
Hyder Ali was originally a Punjabi adventurer in the army of the Hindu king of Mysore.
The second power was a new force, which in the 1770s was just emerging and beginning to flex its military muscles: the Mysore Sultanate of Haidar Ali and his formidable warrior son, Tipu Sultan. Haidar, who was of Punjabi origin, had risen in the ranks of the Mysore army, where he introduced many of the innovations he had learned from observing French troops at work in the Carnatic Wars.
For a section of Punjabi activists in Pakistan and most Sikhs, Ranjit Singh is a local hero — 'son of the soil' — who successfully thwarted aggressors from the north and established a strong centralised government that provided relief to the people of Punjab after decades of chaos and violence.
In addition to the masjid's use as a site for military storage, stables for the cavalry horses, and barracks for soldiers, parts of it were also used as storage for powder magazines.
This study was undertaken with a new paradigm to understand the condition of the Muslims under Sikh rule in the Punjab. It challenges the stereotypical approaches, which highlight contradictions between Muslims and Sikhs. Some historians have pointed out that the Sikh rulers mistreated the Muslims, harmed their religion and damaged their religious places. In support of this, they claim that not only did the Muslims of India show resentment, but also that some of them started Tehrik-e-Mujahidin against Ranjit Singh's state. The author, with new evidence from the Fakir Khana archives in Pakistan and England, has developed the hypothesis that the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh and his successors adopted a secular approach towards minorities, including the Muslims - that is, there was not a single movement within the Punjab started by Muslims against the Sikh rulers. Instead, the Tehrik-e-Mujahidin that was launched against the alleged maltreatment of the Muslims was actually the result of a misperception of the Muslims' condition in the Punjab, and a number of studies have already shown that Tehrik-e-Mujahidin had many other motives as well.
Based on the fighting abilities of the ethnic groups and their loyalty to the British, the army designated some groups as martial (such as Sikhs, Punjabi Muslims, the Baloch, Rajputs from Rajasthan, Jats, Dogras, Gurkhas and the Marathas) and restricted recruitment to them.
The single most numerous "class" of Indian recruits in both world wars, however, was the Punjabi Muslims
In 1939, as many as 29% of soldiers in the British Indian Army, which was split between India and Pakistan after Partition, were Punjabi Muslims, mostly from Pakistani Punjab.
Punjabi people are the ethnic majority in the Punjab region of Pakistan and Northern India accounting for 44.7% of the population in Pakistan.